DeveloperTech reported earlier this week on Google’s announcement to bring Android to vehicles in partnership with several of the biggest car manufacturers – a perhaps inevitable next step to Andy’s (the green robot) world domination.
Whilst Android has already passed 1 billion activations since September 2012, not necessarily all of these are still active. But according to leading research firm Gartner, by the end of this year, Android is set to be on 1 billion active devices.
As much as 75% of this growth is expected from emerging markets; where the open-source OS is found on many cheap devices. Of course many will start making comparisons to iOS; but with all of Android’s various OEMs, and forms found, it’s not a justified measure of performance.
Overall, Gartner says industry-wide mobile phone shipments will reach 1.9 billion shipments this year — a five percent increase on 2013. ‘Ultramobiles’ — which consists of tablets, hybrids and clamshells — are expected to grow the fastest of all devices, at a rate of 54 percent year-on-year.
It is rumoured that Google is in fact putting Android as a second priority behind the company’s less-popular, but intriguing Chrome OS. The lack of major Android updates recently is placed upon this new focus. The newer, more fully-fledged OS is said to power the higher-end tablets, hybrids, and clamshells running Google’s software.
One of the biggest growths in terms of shipments is said to be Tablets — perhaps predictable to industry-observers. In particular, this will be driven by smaller-sized tablets such as Google’s own Nexus 7. Gartner says shipments will grow 47 percent year-on-year spurred by lower retail prices.
Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, says: “Complimentary smaller tablets will take over from the larger tablet form factors, providing the added mobility that consumers desire at a lower cost and will compete with hybrids for consumer attention.”
Do you think Gartner’s Android predictions are accurate?
